Friday, April 6, 2012

This is the day Christians commemorate the sacrificial death and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross for our sins. There is no more important day in the Christian tradition than this.

Christ's death on the Cross is directly tied into the Passover Celebration of the Jews. At this time of year Jews celebrate the fact that during the period of Egyptian bondage, when they were slaves to Pharaoh, the death angel God sent as the last of the great 10 plagues to persuade the Egyptians to set the Israelites free passed over the homes of the Hebrews because they had obeyed God and sprinkled the blood of sacrificial lambs over the doorposts, meaning that they would be spared the scourge of having the firstborn in every family killed.

The Egyptians, on the other hand, being non-believers, scoffed at such an idea and laughed at Moses for suggesting such a thing. Thus, when the death angel descended to Egypt, he 'passed over' the homes of the Hebrew slaves but gained entrance into every home of the Egyptians, where there was no blood sprinkled on the doorposts. Once inside the death angel took the lives of each and every Egyptian first born child.

The grief and wailing was so severe across the land that Pharaoh finally relented and allowed the ancient Israelites to gain their freedom.

What a contrast between the Hebrew slaves and their Egyptian slave masters! The Egyptians were plagued by untold death. But not a single Hebrew life was taken.

And it was all because of the blood.

In like manner, we who are believers today are spared the penalty for our sins--eternal death, hell, separation from God--all because of the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary, the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb of God.

When we come to Him in faith, believing that we are sinners and stand in need of His forgiveness and salvation, and when we believe He died for us and rose again from the dead, and when we ask Him to come into our hearts and lives as Savior and Lord, then the blood is sprinkled above the door to our hearts. And the 'death angel' passes over us!

We are spared the eternal consequences of our rebellion against God and His ways.